Jack o' Lantern
by Jeakat
Summary: Jacob's pack take Claire out for for Halloween. One-shot for MidnightStarr's Halloween Challenge.


**This is a Halloween one-shot following MidnightStarr's prompts. I've chosen number four: Jack o' Lantern, hope you enjoy. Words: 1,772.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight or any of the characters. **

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Jack o' Lantern

"We are way too old this." She sighed, running a hand through her messy hair.

"Come on, Leah. Lighten up." Seth nudged his older sisters shoulder, "It's Halloween, you're supposed to have fun."

"Leah? Having fun?" Embry quipped from across the picnic table they were all smashed into, "Your unrivalled optimism has reached new heights Seth." He chucked.

The others joined in laughing at the small Beta of the pack, including little Claire, her tinkling high pitch giggle standing out from the booming bass of the four shape-shifters. Leah's only reply was a death glare to the man opposite.

Leah had managed to get on with her new pack mates during the past year, and even come to like them, though Quil still irritated her with his constant inane chatter over nap and bedtimes. But that didn't mean she was prepared to be the butt of their jokes and the knife in her hand was practically willing itself to be flung in Embry's direction, but they were in a public place- with kids present no less- so the revenge would have to wait. Embry seemed to notice the she-wolf formulating a plan, her hand gripping the handle of the knife ever tighter, so he quickly resumed his focus on the large Jack o' Lantern in front of him.

"Well,_ I_ think this was a great idea." Quil piped up, "Don't you Claire?" he asked the four year old sitting on his lap who nodded her head so vigorously that her ponytail thumped against his chest.

"You would think that, Quil. It was your idea." Leah retorted.

Claire smiled brightly at the older woman, "Quil always has the best ideas!" she exclaimed, tilting her head back to give the wolf an upside down smile.

Her response earned an eye-roll from all but the man in question. Sometimes the imprints- and imprintee's- utter devotion was hard to stomach.

The table fell into comfortable silence again as they continued their work, only occasionally disturbed by Claire's very detailed instructions to Quil.

Indeed it _had_ been Quil's idea to come out today. He'd wanted to do something with Claire on Halloween as he couldn't take her Trick or Treating- the only tradition in the Young household that still remained solely for Claire's for mother.

He'd asked practically the whole reservation for ideas on what do what to do, and had been growing increasingly panicked with every 'I don't know' or 'I'm not sure' he'd received. It wasn't until he was asking Embry's mom while she worked behind the register in the beach store that he got a decent answer in the form of a young mother browsing the aisle near him.

There was a small dairy farm just outside of Forks. It had almost gone out of business until the owners converted it into a place for family days out, charging a fortune for admittance. Now the farm housed only a few cows, milked at special presentation times, a tractor ride, a hay bale play area and a small petting zoo, among other things. They also offered seasonal days out, tailored specifically to the holiday or celebration taking place.

That's how the small pack of five, plus Claire, found themselves in a renovated cow barn, sat at one of the many picnic tables with all the other families- who were, it should be noted, taking in the sight of the nearly all adult group with only one child with curious eyes.

Leah was shocked that they'd had to pay an extra $5 each to carve pumpkins but the boys were insistent, so she just went along with it, borrowing the money off of Jacob with a promise to pay it back. Not that she ever intended to, but he knew that and had paid for her regardless.

Although she'd been dragged along, Leah could admit- to no one but herself of course- that she was actually having a pretty good time, though being sandwiched in between Jacob and Seth was making it difficult for her to actually carve the damn pumpkin properly. The Alpha was a positive man mountain and it was a good job she'd already forsaken her personal space with him before- on many occasions, sometimes in her bed, sometimes in his, and twice in the forest- otherwise it'd be pretty awkward with their legs smashed together under the table, practically intertwined.

They were keeping the designs of their Jack o' Lanterns a secret, with the exception of Quil and Claire who were carving one together and needed to talk about their plans. Poor Claire didn't realise that whispering as quietly as possible in Quil's ear was useless around all the wolves.

Embry was so focused on his design that his eyes occasionally crossed as he concentrated on a particularly intricate bit, his tongue subconsciously just peaking out the corner of his mouth.

Seth seemed very pleased with his progress, his smile a dead give away. Of course, not one of them knew what he was carving, but judging from the sparkle of delight in the youngest wolf's eyes they knew it would be good.

Looking to her left, Leah noticed that Jacob was calmly getting on with project. His large hands wielding the knife with precision, making confident, sure strokes with the blade as he went, his time spent making wooden figurines with Billy helping him greatly.

Leah had finished her design long before the others, causing them all to give her a reproachful look. There was no way that she had the skill required to be done by now, so that meant she'd probably done something crap and easy, no doubt a traditional face complete with triangle eyes. Their looks caused Leah to pick up her knife again, pretending to use it to add more, as she waited for them to finish. She didn't want her big reveal to be ruined.

Not two seconds after Seth announced he was finished, pulling his Jack o' Lantern against his chest to hide his work, Leah had done the same, bored of keeping up the charade of still working. Soon enough Quil and Claire joined the siblings, patiently waiting for Jacob and Embry to finish too. Claire was prodding and poking the pumpkin now pulled against her body as Quil continually snatched her hands back, knowing that there would definitely be tears if she broke it.

Soon enough the other two were finished, smiling proudly at their work.

"Us first! Us first!" Claire cried, clapping her hands together in excitement, knowing that her friends would let her, she _was_ the youngest after all and mommy always let her do things before her big sister.

The wolves all responded with enthusiasm when the crude shape of the ghost was revealed. Claire's giant beaming smile- which prompted their declarations of 'that's great' and 'very good' in the first place- was hard to resist and they all grinned in return.

"Me next," Seth exclaimed, in a tone not too dissimilar from that of the four year old girl, earning an eye-roll from all at the table.

To be fair on Seth, the carving _was_ detailed, and showed true craftsmanship- no doubt picked up from Jacob at some point- but the subject matter was what caused the smirks to spread across the table.

"Really, Seth?" Embry drawled while Quil chuckled.

Jacob only raised his eyebrows before shrugging, he wasn't too surprised.

"Honestly? Does your man crush know no bounds?" Leah asked him. Though she was joking, she couldn't help but wonder if Seth did actually have a crush on…

"It's not Edward!" Seth cried defensively, cutting off Leah's thoughts as he jabbed a finger in the direction of his Jack o' Lantern, "It's a just_ a_ vampire. No one specific. I've even given him fangs. Vampires don't have fangs!"

It didn't escape Leah's attention that Seth hadn't denied having a crush on the bloodsucker and judging by the elbow to the ribs she received from Jacob, she wasn't the only one.

"How do you know?" Claire- ever inquisitive and always observant- asked.

Seth gulped after noticing the death glare aimed his way from Quil- the one that said _'you better have a damn good excuse'_ – before shrugging, "It's just a guess."

"Well I think vampires have _huge_ fangs!" Claire exclaimed, putting her fingers to her mouth and waggling them down to show just how big she thought they were.

Embry turned his around next in an obvious attempt to help his friend get his imprint off the subject. Embry had carved a haunted house, complete with bats. It lacked the finesse of Seth's design. Its edges weren't quite as sharp or crisp but what it lacked in execution it made up for in sheer design- the windows even had shutters.

"And now for the winner," Jacob proclaimed loudly. The rest of the group voiced their disagreement but were stunned into silence when their Alpha revealed his work.

A large wolf stood proud in the centre with its head tilted back, howling at the moon. Jacob had cut around the wolf, so that the animal was bright orange, instead of being the hollow, the only thing keeping it attached to rest of the pumpkin were four the four thin legs. Clouds outlined the edge of the hollow part and the fur on the wolf was so fine and intricate it looked real. The only down point was the obvious subject choice.

"That's all very well and good Jake," Leah started in an offhand manner, keeping her amazement at his work hidden- she didn't want to inflate his ego any further- "but I'm so proud of mine that I'm going to put it on my porch as soon as I get home."

When she still hadn't turned her pumpkin around Embry said, "Come on then, Leah. Amaze us."

With a giant smirk Leah quickly flipped her Jack o' Lantern around, pleased with the gasps from the three wolves that could see it.

Jacob's view was cut off as Leah had tilted the pumpkin towards Seth on her other side. The gasps from his pack members and the puzzled look on Claire's face as she tried to decipher the design piqued Jacob's curiosity and it wasn't long before he grew impatient. With a flick of his wrist he spun her Jack o' Lantern round revealing, in Leah's elegant handwriting the words:

'FUCK OFF' carved into the side of the bright orange vegetable.

Jacob laughed as he read the design, knowing full well the she-wolf would indeed place it on her porch. The design was definitely, unmistakably her. _His_ Leah.

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**A/N: Ah, you got me, I couldn't help but add just a hint of Blackwater in there! As always, please review...**


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